We are on week 6 of working from home now. I'm not sure we thought we would be working from home for this long, I'm not sure we knew what we were thinking at the start. As educators we have been told it is business as usual for us and our learners. So whilst the commute is a lot shorter not a lot else should have changed. But a lot has changed.
Yes we can see each other virtually and check in and hold meetings but you can't pop to Kerry's office to ask her a quick question, you have to wait until she has fed the kids, walked the dog and checked her emails to book in a video call for tomorrow by which time you have forgotten what it is you needed to ask her. So that has made us work smarter surely, surely we are becoming more independent and working a lot more things out on our own? Or are we just moving on because we don't know the answer and we will see if we need to come back to it later? I think it is a bit of both. I fear that there will be a series of small pockets of mess that need tidying up scattered all over the place in a much vaster workplace as staff will have achieved more through their new independence.
I'm lucky in that I have always had autonomy from my manager to undertake my role and I am encouraged to be risky and creative. Lockdown hasn't changed this. He likes it when I bring a new crazy project idea and we see massive staff engagement with it. He measures impact not hours. But this causes another problem. I can achieve impact in a short amount of time, not being big headed it is a combination of my role and our measures of impact. Yet I sit religiously a my desk for my 8 hours a day breaking for homeschooling lessons with my kids and skipping lunch. Why?
There are 2 things at play. Number 1 I like my job, I like my kids but I like my job too. So when I am being paid to be at work, I like to be at work. I like the buzz of achieving things, solving problems and working with my Driving Digital buddy. Number 2 I am fearful of losing my job. Now this is an almost irrational fear, I say almost as anyone can be furloughed at the moment but thankfully no one in my team is as yet. I know it is unlikely to lose my job. Not impossible though.
Do I worry that the clock watching police will come and take my job away if I don't do my 8 hours a day? No it's not that. It's because we don't know what is coming next. Will my furloughed husband return to work leaving me with my kids and a job to manage from home? If so I will need a few hours in the bank to cover me as I won't be able to do my 8 hours a day then. Will my kids return to school and nursery on 2 weekly timetables? If so I will need a few hours in the bank to cover me as I won't be able to do my 8 hours a day then. Yet I look at my colleagues who are currently working, like me, in the same place of work, with kids at home and I see they can't attend our meeting because their son needs to do a video call with his dance teacher. No one queries it, no one asks them to work their hours back up. Everyone is flexible, which is great. But I don't need that flexibility at the minute, my worry is will I be able to access it when I do need it?
The joys of working from home cannot be ignored. The little interruptions by my kids on a video call when they bring me some slime to pretend to eat really does enhance my working day. The remaining on my knee through the video call and randomly pressing buttons on the keyboard doesn't enhance my day but it does make me smile! The joy of looking out on my garden and my neighbours and giving a friendly wave as people go for their once a day walk enhances my working day. The ability to work remotely via video meetings and see my colleagues faces enhances my day.
I am known for struggling normally in meetings. I engage, I contribute, I do all the right things. But I really struggle when people go off topic, when people take too long, when meetings overrun or when the agenda isn't followed. Yet working from home has meant people are more focussed in meetings, they stay on topic, they watch their timings more and meetings end when they should. I think this is the best change in working practice to come out of lockdown that i have seen. The challenge now is to capture those new skills teams have acquired and embed them into the new normal. Thankfully we won't be physically returning to work for some time so these new skills may become habits by the time we return. SJ
